<p>Open a non-deductible IRA and then convert right away as long as you don’t have another IRA outside of your 401K is one way. That’s what I did.</p>
<p>Agree–IF ALL your money is in 401Ks and you have NO IRAs, go ahead and open a non-deductible IRA for each of you in the max amount and then convert to Roth IRA. You will only pay the regular taxes on the money and then using that money you’ve already paid taxes on to fund your Roth IRA. That’s what I did for 2013 and 2014. I am NOT converting because we are happily using the traditional IRA required minimum distributions now and it makes no sense to convert for us.</p>
<p>I did a backdoor Roth for 2011, 12, 13 for my wife (who has no IRAs) but not for me because I have a lot in traditional IRAs. My accountant’s reaction to what he considers a lot of effort for a moderate gain: “IxnayBob, we need to find you a hobby.”</p>
<p>I just called vanguard and the person did the works in less than 10 minutes. I agree it’s peanuts but if you have doing for 10 years it’s not bad. Plus once it gets going it can be a nice chunk for my possibly kids. Not sure I will need it. People without kids. Just spend your money and don’t worry.</p>
<p>I agree, Vanguard does it in a snap. No big deal. Then again, some of us detest paying too much in taxes more than others, so any gain that you don’t have to pay Uncle Sam 40% of the proceeds is happy money. My little backdoor Roth has gained over 50% this year, so when I make a trade that nets me a $10 gain in my account, I think, “Heh! And that $10 is tax free.” The simple pleasures in life.</p>
<p>^^ I think my accountant was *****ing about having to file 8606 forms. He was mostly kidding, and we continue to do backdoor Roths. I have used him for almost 30 years, so we are pretty casual with each other. </p>
<p>TurboTax filled mine out pretty quickly. I bypass all the questions, just went straight to the forms.</p>
<p>busdriver, I just taught my 18- year old kid that every time she spends $10 she needs to make $20. She has been asking a lot of questions about mutual funds, IRA, etc…</p>
<p>That’s awesome, DrGoogle! Sounds like she got the message.</p>
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<p>Do you mean did the whole thing from start to finish or did the conversion after you had already opened the regular non-deductible IRA? Do you already have an account at Vanguard?</p>
<p>And I can contribute $5,500 for 2014? I feel like I am missing something–why would the government not let me open this account directly but let me do this one little “trick” to achieve the same result? (Not that I am doubting you all–what you are saying is consistent with what I’ve been reading in various other places, but it seems more than a little odd.)</p>
<p>You have to meet criteria for the backdoor Roth to work (not have any other traditional IRAs). Not clear to me why this is available, but figure I might as well do it and have S do it while we can. One day it may not be possible, when they change IRA rules again. </p>
<p>Yes, contribution limit is $5,500 for folks unless they are old enough to qualify for $6,500. <a href=“Retirement Topics - IRA Contribution Limits | Internal Revenue Service”>http://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/Plan-Participant,-Employee/Retirement-Topics-IRA-Contribution-Limits</a></p>
<p>If you call Vanguard, they will open an account for you, they can get you to sign electronically too. When you have money in the account, you can call them to open a non-deductible IRA and then tell them to convert immediately to Roth IRA.
I think it’s $6,500 if you are over 50, but please google for the correct amount. My brain isn’t always correct.</p>
<p>If you have a current 401k that you like, and that accepts “roll ins,” you can roll your current tIRA into it and then do the backdoor Roth.</p>
<p>ETA this might have been mentioned on this thread already. If so, sorry. </p>
<p>My recollection is that the only IRAs that can be rolled into a 401k are “rollover” IRAs, which were funded by a 401k distribution.</p>
<p>It is important to keep rollover IRAs separate if you ever want to roll them into a 401k, because once they are mixed, you can’t do the roll-in.</p>
<p>Actually, you need to call the plan administrator to find out whether you can roll funds into another plan. I called the 457 plan (govt 401k) and they said I could roll my Traditional IRAs in, so I did, BEFORE creating my non deductible IRA and converting it to Roth IRA. </p>
<p>Some plans DO NOT allow you to roll funds into them, while others DO. </p>
<p>Some googling tells me that I was referring to a “conduit” IRA, which used to be needed to roll back into a 401k. This requirement went away a while ago.</p>
<p>I’m talking my sister into buying a new condo near me, literally 5 minutes away. She is going to downsize from a 3-BR with large yard to a small condo. She is not married and I think it would be great if she can live nearer to me so my family can help her. My husband is a great handyman and he certain can help her a lot. He also likes her company, she is like his drinking buddy when she is here because I don’t appreciate wine as much.
How many here have intermediate family lives nearby? How many here plan to move closer to your family when you retire?</p>
<p>We are about a 5-10 minute drive from my parents and sibs now. We don’t really want to be much closer. We do have two sibs that live about 20-45 minutes away (depending on traffic). We plan on staying put. We hope our kids will be able to settle near us, or at least in our state and island but have no idea whether that will happen. </p>
<p>DrG, sounds like your sis is lucky to have you to live near and a drinking buddy handyman to boot in your H!</p>
<p>She lives 20 minutes away in a really old house. She is excited to move to a newer place. If she is within walking distance, maybe she can come over more often. I was sort of half joking about drinking buddy, my husband used to drink more but he is now cutting back to only on big holidays.
I cook more often than my sister, she doesn’t care about cooking, so she’s technically can help eat some of the leftover food. Have more friends and families are great all around.</p>
<p>Have various family between an hour’s drive all the way through to a multi-hour flight. Everyone is pretty mobile, so I don’t know if moving to be near them would work. Our current plan is to probably stay on the east coast. Being near an airport is a requirement of any retirement home, so that it would be easier to visit. </p>
<p>My wife is considering a job change, which is the opposite of the retirement I’m trying to seduce her with. 
Whatever makes her happy. </p>